@deviodigital thanks for looking into this :) English is not my main language so I'm not sure. Ideally, this ticket should be coordinated with #29022 and maybe try to use the same strings used in the admin bar (the top toolbar). Less strings to translate, better consistency. Should also handle the plurals.

I took a bit of a look at this patch, and the colour changes are a good start :thumbsup:

There are a few things that are missing or just not working properly just yet:

The aria-label replaces the text completely, so just having it announce "Number of Plugins Needing Updates" isn't complete and the actual number will need to be part of it too.

There is the "global" Updates link (in the Dashboard submenu) that seems untouched by the aria-label changes, but this would also need the same labeling treatment.

The increase in the font size made the bubbles a bit more oval. They weren't perfect circles before, but due to the increased size this is now a bit more noticeable than before. The extent also varies based on the number it looks like. But maybe I'm just nitpicking. :)